Dutch technology investment firm Prosus is closing a $4.7 billion deal to acquire Indian payment firm BillDesk, which Prosus will combine with its FinTech PayU, also in India.
The transaction is subject to approval from the Competition Commission of India, and follows PayU’s previous acquisition of CitrusPay, Paysense and Wibmo, Prosus said in a press release emailed to PYMNTS on Tuesday (Aug. 31).
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“We have a long and deep relationship with India, having supported and partnered with some of its most dynamic entrepreneurs and new tech businesses since 2005,” Prosus Group CEO Bob van Dijk said, adding that the company has already invested almost $6 billion in Indian tech.
“BillDesk exemplifies the ambition and expertise of Indian entrepreneurs, who are among the best in the world, with exceptional abilities to build products and services and understand scale and value. This is critical in a country as vast as India,” van Dijk said.
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The acquisition aligns with Prosus’s plan to develop useful digital products that people worldwide can employ as they go about their daily lives, according to van Dijk.
“Along with classifieds, food delivery, and education technology, payments and FinTech is a core segment for Prosus, and India remains our number one investment destination,” he said.
As a combined entity, BillDesk and PayU will be among the largest digital payment providers worldwide, handling $147 billion in total payment volume (TPV). As digital needs change in India, the two companies together will work to bring the latest tech to the most remote areas of the country.
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PayU currently operates across 20 markets in India, Latin America, and Europe. BillDesk, founded in 2000, is among the top payment firms in India.
Prosus was spun from South Africa’s Naspers in 2019 and has stakes in consumer internet companies in online marketplaces, educational software, food delivery and FinTech according to the company website.
“BillDesk has been a pioneer in driving digital payments in India for well over a decade. This investment by Prosus validates the significant opportunity in India for digital payments that is being propelled by innovation and the progressive regulatory framework put into place by the Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank,” M. N. Srinivasu, Co-founder of BillDesk, said.
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